Daesh Boy Identified: Junior British Jihadi or Child Victim?

The image of a toddler wearing military combat gear and a black bandana complete with a Daesh emblem has been splashed on the front pages of many British newspapers after he appeared in the latest jihadi propaganda video.

The footage shows five hostages being murdered as the toddler is heard saying in English, "We are going to kill the kafir (non-believers) over there," while he points into the distance.

His mother, Grace 'Khadijah' Dare left the UK for Syria to become a jihadi bride in 2012 after converting to Islam. She married a Swedish man called Abu Baker, who is since believed to have been killed.

Child in Isil video has now been identified as Isa Dare, the son of Grace Dare a Jihadi bride from Lewisham pic.twitter.com/1fqIXWaOWt

— Belfast Child (@bfchild66) January 5, 2016

​The child featured in the video has been identified by his grandfather who told Channel 4 news in Britain that he recognized the boy and condemned the footage. Sunday Dare, said: "It's propaganda; they are just using a small boy. He doesn't know anything. They are just using him as a shield."

His jihadi bride mother had previously posted a picture of her son carrying an AK47 assault rifle 18 months ago, provoking a debate in the British media over whether the image and subsequent identity of her elder child dressed in camouflage clothing should be revealed by the press.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has said the child whose face is featured in almost every British newspaper and online news website, "should be brought back to the UK and taken into care."

Boris Johnson on Jihadi child conscript Isa Dare; 'This is child abuse, no question at all.' @itvlondon

— Simon Harris (@simonharrisitv) January 5, 2016

​Lewisham council said: "We are unable to confirm the identity of the boy in the video. The matter is clearly one on which the police are leading. The council is liaising with the police and we are deeply concerned about any suggestion of a link between these abhorrent acts and our community."

London's Metropolitan police admitted in August 2015 that more than 30 children from the UK had been made subject of family court orders amid fears they had been radicalized. Assistant commissioner and senior counter terrorism officer Mark Rowley said some children were "almost babes in arms."

Children have featured before in Daesh propaganda videos — but it's believed this is the first time a young boy with links to Britain has been used in a film.

Britain's security services have identified 750 Britons who have fled the UK to join Daesh militants, their focus remains on finding the ones who have returned, while the debate over the revelation of the identity of the junior jihadi fighter — or child victim — continues